Bree
by VlogDot
Summary: I heard Stphenie Meyer made the book The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner, and I don't like it very much. Therefore, I decided to make a new version of it. Thank you. *Note:I do not own the Twilight saga. This is just for fun.*
1. Waking Up

When I woke up, I could see the stars. _Where am I_, I thought, _what happened?_ My head ached, my neck throbbed, and my mind was clouded. The stars were clear, though; so bright that they hurt my eyes.

I heard a soft chuckle.

I sat up so fast that I startled even myself. I looked around. I was inside a warehouse, full of huge wooden boxes. The stars peeked in through a hole in the ceiling. My eyes continued to scan, and then I saw him.

He was blond, looked about eighteen, three years older than me. His skin was so pale; it practically glowed in the dark. He was extremely handsome, yes, but I wasn't paying attention to that. I could only stare at his eyes.

His eyes were red.

"Hello, Bree." he said in a smooth voice that made me recoil. How did he know my name? I blinked in surprise.

"Who are you? Where am I? What am I doing here?" I shouted, sliding back on the floor the whole time.

"Don't you remember?"

"Remember what?"

"Close your eyes and try to remember."

Now, I didn't like the idea of closing my eyes in front of him, but I reluctantly did. Then I thought; I waited for my memories to come back. After a few moments, they came.

I remember walking down the street at night, coming back home from studying at my friend's house. I remember walking past an alley, seeing those red eyes. I remember running, and I remember being grabbed from behind. I remember _him_, and a sharp pain in my neck. I remember fainting, and I remember pain.

But I never remembered being dragged in here. I never remembered meeting him before, either, yet his face was oddly familiar. I took me a few minutes, but then I placed it.

"You're that guy who disappeared over a year ago! What's your name, Roland, Regan, Ronald…"

"Riley." he responded curtly, the softness in his voice gone. I backed away, gasping for air.

"I saw your story on the news. Your parents were worried sick, and they still are. And you're alive! How could you do that to them?" I asked.

"Don't speak unless I tell you to, and do not ever mention my life before! I have authority over you, I created you!" he yelled.

"Excuse me? You created me? What is that supposed to mean?"

He ran over in a blur, and grabbed my shoulders hard. I struggled as he led me outside to a store with a window out front. He spun me around so I could see my own reflection. I yelped out of fear.

My eyes were red, too. My usual plain brown hair had grown a tint darker, with long curls that had never been there before. My skin, a sickly pale white. A beautiful kind of evil.

The longer I looked, I realized my throat was completely dry.

"I need water." I rasped.

"No. You need blood." Riley replied. I gaped at him open-mouthed. I couldn't even respond to that.

"I am a vampire," he explained, "and you are a vampire, too. I will train you. Welcome to the Army."


	2. Fun Run

Vampire? The way Riley had said it could have made me laugh, but I was still staring at my red eyes in the reflection of the window.

I had so many questions, but I started with the top three.

"Are the myths true? Turning into bats, allergic to garlic, burning in the sunlight, that type of stuff?"

"No." he responded.

"How often do I have to feed?"

"Whenever you're thirsty."

"What Army?" I asked. At this he hesitated, and when he answered, I knew he wasn't telling me everything.

"I am not the leader. There is a woman; I cannot speak her name for certain reasons, who started an army of vampires over a year ago. I cannot explain it all tonight, but I will in time. You are to fight, but after we win you can do whatever you want."

_Whatever I want,_ I thought, _I can do whatever I want._ I shook the thought away for a while.

"Am I immortal?" I asked.

"All vampires are until they are killed. Try not to be killed." He started walking, and I started to follow. He stopped and looked at the sky, which had started to show the first signs of dawn.

"Do what I say. On the count of three, we will run. You are going to follow me, no matter how fast you are. Do you understand?" Riley said. I nodded suspiciously. How on Earth could I be faster than him?

"One, two… three." We took off, and I screamed. We were going too fast, faster than any normal car could go. I couldn't hear our feet hitting the pavement.

I started going faster and faster, until everything became a blur. I felt free.

"Bree, I told you to stay behind me!" Riley yelled. I looked and saw that he was a good thirty feet back. I slowed down, and he took the lead.

After six minutes he led me out into the forest. Where were we going? I had no idea. I just kept running and watched as the trees grew thicker and darker. The sun was about to show over the horizon. Did I burn in the sun? Riley said no, but he might have lied, or he could have been saying no to the other myths I listed. I didn't want to take my chances.

I ran into him; I didn't know he had stopped. He scowled, but said nothing. We had stopped at a rock.

Not a tiny rock, mind you, but a huge one, as tall as the trees and wide enough to fit tons of people inside. I could tell that it was hollow.

Riley moved a piece of the gigantic rock so it swung open like a doorway. No human would be able to tell that the moveable piece was there. It led to a narrow passageway cut into the stone. He walked in, but I hesitated. He looked back.

"What?" he asked.

"Nothing…it's just…don't I have to be invited?" I asked. Riley huffed and grabbed my arm, pulling me in. I'm starting not to like him.


	3. Fredrick

I may not have looked like it, but I was completely scared when Riley jerked me into the tunnel. What could I be scared of? I had no idea, and that was my greatest fear of all.

Murmuring, I could hear murmuring. The voices grew louder the deeper we went.

There wasn't any light anymore, so how could I still see? What else could a vampire do? I really wanted to find out. I had all the time in the world.

The tunnel wasn't very long, just deep. It went down in a spiral more than it did sideways. I had absolutely no idea where it was going to end.

Suddenly, the tunnel opened up to a gigantic room cut out of stone and clay. It looked about the size of a half a football field, at least. There were thirty four people in it, not counting Riley and myself, and I knew they were vampires, too.

This underground lair was completely disturbing. Broken bottles, newspapers, and other random trash were spewed all over the ground. Random small groups of vampires were scattered about, talking to each other. It might be cliché, but it smelled like death down here. Amidst the smells and the talking and the trash, I noticed something completely odd: there wasn't any furniture. None. Where were we supposed to sleep? On the floor? I wasn't going to.

"What is this place?" I murmured to Riley.

"A temporary hiding place. We won't be here long." He obviously saw the disgust on my face. I grimaced. How temporary was temporary?

Suddenly, a young man who looked about twenty was standing in front of Riley and me. His hair was a deep black, which was a startling match with his red eyes.

"Another one," he said to Riley in a velvet voice, "how curious. You're good at this, Riley." As a response, Riley simply nodded. The man leaned forward to look at me.

"Pretty, too. Couldn't resist, could you? Don't get me wrong, I would have done the same thing…"

"Watch your tongue, Fredrick. I'm just dropping her off. I'm impatient as it is; I don't have time for your stupidity today." he responded bluntly.

"What do you mean 'dropping me off'? Where are you going?" I asked. I hadn't liked the way he referred to me like cargo.

"None of your business." he snapped. I stepped back a pace in disbelief.

"Excuse me? What did you say?" I said, in somewhat a snotty tone. He chuckled.

"Those are your two favorite words, aren't they," he asked sarcastically. He gave me a small shove as he went back toward the tunnel, "Consider yourself excused." He left, still laughing slightly. I glared after him. Fredrick put his arm around my shoulders.

"I like you. You've got a mouth, even though you don't look like the type that would. My name's Fredrick, by the way. Call me Fred." He removed his arm from around my shoulders, and stuck it out. I shook it firmly.

"My name's Bree. Bree Tanner." I replied.

All the others were staring at me. In a twisted way, I like how they stared. I grinned back at them.

"Let me introduce you to the others…" Fred said as he walked me into a group of vampires…


	4. Mission Introduction

There were thirty one vampires, not including Fred and me, in the underground cave now. He led me to introduce ourselves. The first one of the group I met was a woman of mid-thirties; tall and skinny, with light blond hair swept into a playfully messy bun.

"My name's Eden, welcome to the army." She had a smirkish smile that was full of ironic happiness. I soon found out that she was one of the few that truly enjoyed being here. I shook her hand gladly.

One by one I met each person in the small crowd. I had barely been with them for a half hour, and I actually liked them more than most normal people.

After the introductions, the crowd slowly dispersed about the cave. I turned to Fred.

"Now what do I do?" I asked.

"Whatever you want 'till nightfall. That's when Riley comes and fetches us, to drink and train."

"I thought Riley said that vampires don't burn in the sun." I commented. Fred chuckled.

"Oh believe me, they don't, but you'll find out what happens eventually. For now, hang out over here with me and Eden."

I found out that Fred and Eden were together ever since Eden was turned into a vampire three weeks ago. They acted as if they had been together for years.

I joined Fred and Eden in a sort of playful combat practice. Eden was fast, and Fred was strong. I got a few hits here and there, but I could tell I had training to do. Soon the whole group was joining in, and eventually we all just sat around and talked and laughed. We didn't care what time it was; we had all the time in the world.

"Get up!" a voice came suddenly from the entrance. We scrambled onto our feet. Riley was standing with his head high and his hands behind his back.

"I can see you've all made yourselves acquainted with Bree. I'm going to tell you all this: Bree is the last add-on to this army. No more will be turned. We don't have time to train any more new ones." Everybody's faces got a bit brighter.

"Also," Riley said in a serious tone, "our leader has requested for me and one of you to go…to collect information about our enemy."

"I don't even know who our leader is." I mumbled. It was a quiet statement, but everybody in the room heard it, including Riley.

"Seriously? None of you thought of explaining anything to Bree in all the time you were down here? None of you at all? Nothing? Well," he said, striding over to me, "I guess you're the one coming with me on this little mission, so I can explain along the way."

I kept my eyes cast toward the ground, and my face turned red. I guess I was going to have to watch what I said around here. I looked up quickly and nodded. My earlier confidence was gone. He smirked.

"Excellent. We go when the sun rises."


	5. Reflexes

_AN: Holy crap I just realized I haven't updated in like, a year. I can't…I can't even… oh my gosh. To anyone and everyone who has been looking and following this, or at least was trying to… I'm so sorry! I don't know what happened! So from now on, I upload much more often and with much longer chapters as a huge apology. Here we go:_

"Fred, something's weird." I whispered. We were being led up and out of the cave. Riley was quiet, the very picture of a leader with his hands behind him, firm and strong.

"Yeah, what's that, little one?" Fred leaned in, keeping quiet as well. I looked at him, the ground, then back at him.

"I…I'm not tired. I've been up for a really long time. I would have at least yawned or something by now."

"Ah," he smiled, "We don't sleep."

I simply stared at him, confused. We had to sleep sometime, right?

"Ever?" I asked. Eden joined in.

"Never ever." she said with a grin. I shook my head.

"How is that possible?" Eden and Fred laughed loudly, attracting some stares from the others.

"You're such a puzzle, Bree. Immortality, perfectly acceptable, but lack of sleep, impossible to understand." Fred commented, still smiling in that cool and relaxed way of his.

"Forget puzzle, she's a natural! You'll be fine, seriously Bree, don't worry." Eden assured me.

I still didn't get it, though. It was surprising. I vaguely remembered life as a human, and know that I had needed at least _ten _hours of sleep if I hoped to accomplish anything that day. Now, with no sleep, I felt that I could take on half the world.

My thoughts were interrupted when the man in front of me stopped abruptly. I just barely missed bumping into the guy's back.

Now everyone was silent and motionless as statues. We were finally out of the cave, into the night air.

Scents of woods, pine, flowers, and life swirled around, making me dizzy. There wasn't a moon, but I could see perfectly. The stars were hurting my eyes again. Also, I suppose the air was cold, to humans anyway, but I had to take off the old jacket I was wearing. My jeans felt like they were sticking to my legs.

Unconsciously, everyone had arranged themselves into a line; I was at the right end. Riley was walking up our formation, inspecting us one by one. Occasionally he'd stop in front of one a little longer, but otherwise he did nothing but look. It was kind of creepy, considering that I was last.

Riley got to me, staring at my feet first, and then making his way up. I almost blushed, but I managed to control that minor expression by tilting my head and narrowing my eyes. I even crossed my arms to make a point. I swear I could hear Fred laughing.

Riley's eyes reached my face, and his cocky look faded to something else. Curiosity? Surprise? Whatever it was, it lasted for only a second.

But it had still been there.

"What?" I asked. It sounded too loud. I didn't care. He smirked and copied my pose.

"Nothing, sweetie, just admiring your muscles." he said mockingly, staring at my legs. I shifted, slightly embarrassed. Thank God they were covered. He moved on, back down the line, stopping at a small woman.

"Amanda," he said, "muscle is important for fighting, do you agree?"

"It depends on the fight you're in." she responded, eyes on the ground. Riley nodded approvingly.

"Good answer." He walked up the line and stopped in front of a man with dark skin and wavy brown hair.

"Cayden, are muscles the most important thing in battle?" he asked. Cayden kept his eyes forward, full of strength and focus.

"No," he responded, "brains are."

"That's right, brains are the most important," Riley echoed, "and why are brains especially important in _our _battle?"

"Because our thoughts aren't safe." everybody responded together.

_What the heck does that mean? _I wondered. I must have looked confused.

"Can anyone explain to Bree why our thoughts aren't safe?" Riley's voice boomed across us. Cayden spoke up again.

"Because our opponent can hear them." My stomach dropped. Impossible.

"How?" I asked. Eden answered this time.

"We vampires carry on our strongest trait to our immortal lives. One of our enemies can read the minds of others. We assume he was a people person as a mortal."

"Another can see the future!" Amanda piped up. My eyes grew wide.

"What?" I asked. Riley stepped in.

"Don't panic about that one. She can only make predictions of those she's seen before, which is why you all aren't permitted to meet the woman who actually leads this Army, see? But yes, one can read minds, within reasonable distance. We stay out here, but we still keep a safe distance from everything."

I just nodded. I was starting to realize that there was a whole lot to learn. I needed to pay attention.

From that point on, we practiced fighting. At first, it was standing in our line and jumping into stances when the command was given. Then, we moved to partner and group practice.

I was fast, very fast. Faster than the others because I was the newest. But the others were more experienced. The fights seemed to be pretty even.

The sounds, though, the sounds. Every time one of us hit another, it was like knocking two giant rocks together. Like thunder. At first it was annoying and startling to hear that every few minutes, but eventually, I grew to love the noise. It showed how strong we were.

"Hey newbie, come over here and fight me!" Fredrick yelled. It was close to sunrise and I'd been practicing with Amanda, who was surprisingly strong for her small size. We stopped and looked over at him and that cocky smirk that he always had. I laughed.

"Won't Eden get jealous?" I joked. Eden looked over from sitting next to Cayden, tying her shoe.

"Believe me sweetie, I know he won't mess around." she shouted, giving Fred a face, which made Amanda, Cayden, and me laugh.

"We'll settle this later!" he said back. Eden laughed, ran over, and kissed his check.

"We'd better." she said in a sing-song voice. If vampires could blush, Fred definitely was. They smiled at each other. Fred turned to me, and we took our stances.

We squared up to each other, turning to perfect statues. The two of us tensed, and he struck out with his fist. I saw it coming and ducked. I jumped up at him, meaning to tackle him. But Fred saw _that_ coming and he managed to step aside. I was left to fly at nothing.

Rolling, I turned around and tensed for a charge. But he wasn't there. I realized too late that he was behind me.

He knocked me to my stomach on the ground, pinning my arms behind my back. That thunder sound came and went. His fangs were at my neck.

"Looks like I win, little one." He got up, chuckling. Someone's arm reached down, which I assumed was Fred's, so I took it and got up. It wasn't Fred. It was Riley. I ripped my hand back, and he pursed his lips. I narrowed my eyes.

"What?" I asked. He was just staring at me.

"You've got good reflexes," he said, "you just don't know what to do with them." And he walked off. Eden, Fred, Amanda, and Cayden turned to look at me.

"What was that about?" Cayden asked. I shrugged awkwardly.

"Hell if we know. Come on, we can probably squeeze in one more fight before sunrise." Amanda said.

We never got to, though. Riley was calling everyone to order.

"Sun's coming up. Everyone, get back in the hideout!" he ordered. All of us started to leave.

"Not you." A hand grabbed my arm. It was Riley.

"What did I do this time?" I asked, but I kept my eyes off his face. He made me… uneasy.

"I'm taking you on a little mission, remember?" he asked. Oh. That.

"Right… where are we going again?" I asked. He had already started walking.

"I'll explain when we get there." That was helpful. He kept going, and I followed him.

"Is this gonna take long?" He stopped and looked back at me before I could look somewhere else. The way his eyebrows arched slightly was strangely… attractive? I dunno. Whatever. I focused on the stars.

"I'm assuming not. It's planned out for today. You coming or not?" I nodded. We began walking.

And so began my death.


	6. Humanity

_A/N: Alright, the story's time from here on might have a mismatched consistency with the book because 1) I haven't read Eclipse in like, 4 years, and 2) I don't have the book with me. So… yeah. I'll try not to make it unreasonable._

"It's not that funny, Bree."

"Okay, okay, I'm sorry…" I said, barely able to breathe. It was no use. Trying to stop laughing brought a whole new round of giggling. He stepped toward me with his fists clenched. I backed up, putting my hands up.

"Okay, I'm stopping, I'm done, I promise." I said frantically. I managed to control myself, if only for the time being.

The first rays of dawn had started appearing when we were walking away from the hideout. By the time we had sprinted out of the forest, the sun was shining bright and strong.

When we stepped out from the trees, I had braced myself for catching fire, or feeling uncomfortable or overheated, or even maybe just itchy. There had to be something, right? Oh, there _had _been something.

We sparkled.

And that's when the laughing fit started. It was funny because well, we were some of the most indestructible things on Earth. The only things that could kill us… were us. We could snap three necks before a human had time to blink.

And we glittered.

"For what reason… how does this," I held up my reflective hand, "give us an advantage? Or maybe even a disadvantage. I don't know."

"Humans find it attractive, I think. It makes us look… otherworldly? Humans like what they can't have. Easy meal." His eyes looked playfully evil when he said that. _Easy meal._ That made my throat feel parched. I shook the thought away for a little while.

"We headed to Seattle?" I asked. It made sense; I could see the city from here.

"We need a car from there, but we're going somewhere else." He said nothing else, and we began running.

When we got close, Riley stopped and looked at me.

"Don't breathe." he ordered.

"What? Why?" I asked. He glanced at the buildings.

"That city is packed with humans, and you're a newborn. If you get even a whiff of someone's blood, you won't be able to control yourself, and we'll have a whole new set of problems." I looked at him skeptically.

"I can't just stop _breathing._" I challenged. I could tell he was getting irritated.

"Sure you can, you're not a human anymore. If it gets bad or unnatural, just cover your nose and mouth with your hands." He was trying to be patient, but his tone had annoyance in it. Despite how I talked to him, I did _not _want to piss him off.

"Alright." I said quietly. He was already walking away again. Was I invisible?

It was easier than I thought. For one thing, clouds had quickly covered the sky, so we didn't shine anymore. But the main thing? I really didn't have to breathe. It was incredible. We walked by a ton of people and I didn't smell any of them. There was no way this could be any cooler.

"Over here." Riley led me to a Prius that someone had left their keys in. From there, we drove off.

"Let this be a lesson to you, Bree. If you ever end up with your own car, always take the keys with you."

"Yeah, wouldn't want a couple of vampires to steal it. Besides, I already had my own car." I said matter-of-factly. He turned to me.

"You did? But I caught you when you were walking." he replied. I looked out the window.

"My friend's apartment was close to mine, I think. We were… studying." I kept gazing out my window, trying to remember. Riley snorted.

"A girl your age with your friend, studying for school? I seriously doubt that." I could feel his eyes on me, questioning. I struggled through a tangled fog to remember. Then it clicked with painful detail.

"We weren't studying for school. I mean, that was our excuse. We were trying to… Wait! I think I have something…"

I dug into the pockets of my jeans, and excitedly found a paper. Taking it out, I unfolded it and inspected it.

"What is that?" he asked. I barely heard him. I was too busy looking at the paper. My mind went back to what I'd been doing the night he'd caught me:

"_Want another grape?" said Bridget, holding up a green grape. I nodded._

"_Toss it to me." I said. She playfully threw it underhand from where she was sitting. I missed, collapsing on the floor. We started laughing. I picked it up and threw it back at my best friend._

_My best friend._

"_Hey, don't get mad at me," she said, messing with her hair. She recently cut her dark red hair short, to a little wavy bob that tickled her ears. It looked good on her, "With reflexes like that, I'm surprised you were able to get through my window." _

"_Me, too." I laughed, and we made some more jokes at each other. Finally, I folded my paper out on the binder on my lap. It was titled __Things Bree's Bringing__. It included obvious things like _spare clothes _and _money. _But it also had more personal things, like _stuffed hippo _and _string bracelet Jack gave me. _Jack wasn't my boyfriend, but I sort of wished he was. He was nice._

"_Anything else?" I asked. Bridget thought for a moment. She then pulled out two glasses of water._

"_We need to ditch our cell phones. We might get tracked by them, you know?" she said. I stared at the water. When they found these, they would know we were gone on purpose. It was final. I nodded._

"_Okay." I said, taking a glass. _

_Simultaneously, we dropped our phones in the water. They sank to the bottoms of the glasses without a sound. They bubbled a little, but nothing else. They no longer worked._

"_Alright, let me put these over here." Bridget placed the glasses on her desk, in plain view of the door. _

"_If my mom doesn't see these, then I don't even know." she said, looking at me and shrugging. I smiled, folding up my paper and sticking it in my pocket._

"_I'm gonna go pack all my stuff and get some sleep. See you tomorrow?" I asked. She smiled back._

"_Nobody else to see." she replied. And with that, I climbed out the window._

_We were running away. It wasn't because how we were treated; it was about how we weren't treated. _

_The reason Bridget and I had become friends was because our situations were similar: Our parents handled us like we were annoying noises, or bees. If you ignored them enough, they wouldn't bother you. _

_We weren't children to them. Too many times had I come downstairs, finding that dinner was already finished; I was never called. Too many times had I tried to talk to them when I had a serious problem, or simply just to talk, and I was told to not bother them, or to go to my room, or to go talk to Bridget or someone. Too many times had I had to go and make my own meals, to cure my own fevers. Too many times had I woken up, only to find that they had already left for work._

_Bridget's situation was much worse. Her parents were divorced, and her mom told her horrible things, things ranging from "I don't care," to "This divorce was your fault." _

_Her mom was away a lot, too. She would sometimes leave for two or three days at a time, without explanation. I'm pretty sure Bridget cried herself to sleep sometimes._

_We were going to leave, to be free, and to never be sad again. We would have each other, and our parents wouldn't have us. Everyone would be happy._

_The street was unusually bare that night. I tugged my jacket tighter around me. Despite it being late April, cold was blasting me. _

_Suddenly, I heard a soft chuckle. Panicking, I spun around, finding nobody. Okay, weird. I kept walking._

_I heard it again, closer this time. I took off running down the sidewalk._

_A hand grabbed my arm, almost ripping it out of its socket. I lurched forward, then back. I turned around._

_The only thing I could see were eyes. Red eyes. Something hit the back of my head. Hard. A dull pain turned to throbbing._

_Then it all went dark._

"Bree? Bree!" Riley's voice startled me from my thoughts.

"Y-yeah?" I asked.

"What's the paper for?" I stared at him, then down at the paper. Closing my eyes and holding back tears, I crumpled it into a ball.

"Nothing." I whispered. Then I opened the window and chucked the little ball as far as I could.

And with it, all of my humanity.


	7. Similarity

The drive was about an hour long, so I had some time to kill. First thing was first: I needed answers.

"Where are we going?" I asked. By this point Riley didn't see the necessity of denying me answers, so he was answering things simply.

"Forks." he said blandly. His answers were never much longer than that. It was like a game.

"What are we doing in…Forks?" _What kind of town name is that?_

"Collecting samples."

"Collecting samples from what?" I asked. He held back a goofy grin.

"From Forks." he said cheerfully. I gave him a look, but it was partially my fault; I needed to ask the right questions. I sighed.

"Okay," I said, "why are you bringing me? I'm the newest. Sure, I'm fast, but that's all I am: fast. My fighting skills aren't exactly…pristine."

He gave me a funny look at the word _pristine. _He was done with the short answers. He was in wise-knowing leader mode.

"Because that's what you are, Bree: fast. This thing doesn't require fighting; we just need to get in, take things, and get out as quick as possible. You're the advantage. Secondly, you're new. The police in Seattle are probably searching for you, but I doubt they're looking very far right now. They wouldn't be on constant watch outside the city just yet; they'll keep checking within the city at first. If anybody were to see us, they wouldn't recognize you."

All I could do was nod. It made sense.

"What about you, though? Would somebody recognize you?" I asked. Riley shook his head.

"I've been gone for so long that everybody's forgotten about me." he said simply. His face changed then, if only for a second. His eyes became softer somehow, and far away. It was only there for a moment, and then it was gone.

The rest of the ride was quiet. And green. I mean, the stuff was everywhere. It was constant moss and trees and leaves, just hanging down and covering every available surface.

Forks was a very small town, with I guessed about one supermarket and two gas stations. Less than four thousand people lived there. Growing up in such a large city, I could barely grasp how Forks could function properly.

Riley pulled the Prius into a parking lot of a diner. We both got out, and he started walking toward the street.

"Hold your breath again." he told me sternly. I did.

We were trying to be casual as we glided down the sidewalk. _Don't mind those two kids with the red eyes, they're just tourists. _I was trying not to make eye contact with people. I was also trying to make it look like I wasn't trying to not make eye contact with people. Risky business.

I think Riley could sense my uneasiness, so he leaned over and made light conversation as two people passed us, so we wouldn't get a bunch of stares.

"Forks," he said, "is one of the rainiest places in the U.S."

Just as he said that, it started to drizzle. The drizzle turned to a gushing downpour within seconds. Riley closed his eyes in frustration.

"Ew." he said, walking faster. I bit my lip, holding back laughter.

We ended up sprinting at vampire speed through a forest, and emerging in somebody's backyard. Nobody was home.

"Oh, so we're breaking into houses now?" I asked.

"Well, we _are _evil creatures of the night. I'm pretty sure crime is in the job description." He lifted himself up a tree in front of a second story window and glanced inside.

"Dumb bitch left the window open." he mumbled, sliding the glass up. He jumped inside, and I climbed and jumped in after him.

A wave of a flowery scent hit me, whether I was breathing or not, it was that strong. I coughed, and it helped a little bit. Riley was having a similar reaction, but not as blatant. I could tell he still felt uncomfortable.

"What _is _that?" I asked, covering my mouth and nose with my hands.

"I'm assuming she was here recently. Probably woke up not too long ago." He stiffly gestured to the unmade bed.

"Okay. What are we supposed to be grabbing?"

"Anything with her scent on it. The stronger, the better."

"You mean we have to take this smell with us?" I asked. Riley shrugged.

"That's what I was told to do, yeah," he said, "Nothing too obvious, though. Grab a shirt here, a sock there. Nothing she'll miss."

I immediately spotted a red button-down shirt lying across the desk chair. Snatching it up, I continued looking around. Riley grabbed a hair tie, two socks, and a pair of pajama shorts.

"Her smell will be on this stuff for weeks, at least." he said. We took a minute to go through the bedroom and see if there was anything else worth taking. I spied a picture on the dresser.

"Is this her?" I asked. Riley nodded.

She was pretty, by human standards, with dark eyes and soft skin. She didn't look particularly interesting, and judging by the open window, she most likely wasn't very smart, either. Then I noticed her hair. It was long, dark, and wavy.

It looked exactly like mine.

"What's her name?" I asked. Riley hesitated. Information meant thoughts, and in our fight, certain thoughts meant danger. He told me anyway.

"Her name's Bella." I wrinkled my nose on impulse. In my mind, _Bella _wasn't a long shot from _Bree_. I held up the picture to the mirror to compare. It was a little too similar for comfort. I grabbed a pair of scissors from the desk. Eden could help me cut it later. Riley chuckled. I gave him a look. Suddenly, we stopped, and stared at the door.

Someone was coming up the stairs.


	8. Out of the Frying Pan, Into the Fire

Riley was already gone as the doorknob turned. I thought about following him out the window, but I knew I wouldn't make it.

_So much for being the fastest._

I couldn't move. Whoever was there was going to come in and find a strange red-eyed girl in Bella's bedroom.

The door swung open.

In came a small woman with dark spiked hair and gold eyes, wearing a short yellow dress. As I watched her move, I discovered with horror that she couldn't be human: she was a vampire, too. And when I noticed that, there was only one way my thoughts went.

_Don't notice me, _I thought desperately, _Don't see me, don't smell me, don't smell Riley, I'm not here, don't see me, I'm nothing, it's an empty room._

Suddenly, a weird feeling consumed me. It was electric, compressed, and chaotic, like a beehive. It was as if I was sucking my energy in, or holding my breath rather than just not breathing. And the strangest thing happened:

She didn't see me.

It was like I wasn't in the room at all. I watched as she zipped around, grabbing pieces of clothing and toiletries and stuffing them in a duffle bag. At one point, she reached into a drawer that was right next to me; I could've elbowed her if I wanted to. She couldn't see me, or smell me, and it was extremely weird.

I didn't even _think _about moving until she was out of the house and I could hear her car driving away.

"Well," Riley said, climbing through the window, "this certainly changes things, doesn't it?"

The ride back to Seattle was a quiet one. We were both thinking about what had happened back there. What was it? Why had it happened? What had it meant?

It was late afternoon when we came back, and the clouds hadn't let up. All the luckier, I guess. The April air was cool, but nice. We walked into the forest, joking and talking like old friends; there was no rush. Yet.

"Ew, what's that smell?" I asked. There was a faint scent of something in the air. Riley took a breath.

"Hmm. Yeah, I can smell it, too. What's it, like-"

"-something burning?" I said. The smell got stronger. It was sort of like a campfire, but there was something disgusting mixed in it. It was overpowering, and I didn't like it.

Just then, we could see smoke. It was thick and purple, and filled with ashes. The smell was completely horrible and I had to cover my nose. What was burning?

Riley turned angry when he saw that smoke. Any kind of friendliness that had been there was gone. He took off running, with me trying to keep up behind him.

We arrived outside of the hideout, where a huge fire was burning. The smoke was clogging the forest air, and I couldn't breathe. I started coughing, and my eyes were watering.

"What the hell is this?" Riley yelled. All of the others were standing around the fire, covering their mouths and squinting.

"There was a fight." Eden's voice piped up. Riley spun around at her and pointed at the flames.

"How many," he asked, "how many?"

"Seven." Fred whispered. He was right next to me. Riley faced him.

"Seven? Seven," he said, "Can't any of you control yourselves?"

He was met with silence. Nobody knew what to say. Our numbers had just gone from thirty three to twenty six, of course they couldn't control themselves. I looked around. Eden and Fred had their arms around each other's waists, looking at Riley. Most were looking away at the trees, the ground, anything. That group included me. My eyes shifted to Cayden. He was different than the others: he just stood there, looking at the pile of burning wood and shaking. It was like he didn't even hear anyone. Amanda was nowhere in sight.

"No." I said. Riley walked right up to me, so his face was an inch away from mine.

"What did you say?" he asked. His breath filled my nostrils. I looked up at him.

"No," I said, "we can't control ourselves."

"And why do you think that is?" he asked, tilting his head to the left. I tried not to blush, or stumble over my words.

"Because if we _could_ control ourselves, then we'd be human." I said simply. We stood there silently for a few moments. Then he started laughing bitterly.

"You know just what to say to make me feel all fuzzy inside, don't you, Bree." He smirked, and faced the rest of the group.

"Bree's correct! We are vampires! Of course we can't control ourselves! It is a human thing to do. Which is why this," he strode up to someone, and without warning, snapped their neck, and threw them into the fire, "is completely justified."

My stomach dropped. I stood there, horrified. That was _my _fault. Why couldn't I just keep my mouth shut?

Riley put his fingers to his temples and sighed.

"I don't understand why you all can't just-," he sighed again, "Alright. I'm probably going to regret this later, but I think if I don't do this it'll end up worse than it already is."

We all stared at him, quiet with anticipation.

"Tonight, we feed."


	9. Bloodlust

_A/N: I'm sorry about the wait for this chapter, it's been longer than I wanted, but lately I've hardly had the time to post things, let alone write. But now I have more free time and can post regularly every couple days or so._

_ALSO: A RILEY AND BREE FAN PAGE ON FACEBOOK! They don't have a lot of likes yet, and I would love to see their page gain some popularity. _/pages/Riley-and-Bree-Fans/163635440437052

_Now without further ado, here's chapter 9:_

_Snip._ Another lock of my hair fell to the ground. I looked straight ahead as Eden cut it.

Riley had disappeared to who-knows-where and told everyone else to go back down into the hideout. We did so without question. Nobody wanted to stay up there with the smoke.

My stomach was in knots. Whatever comfortable attitude I had toward Riley was gone. Whenever I thought about him, I heard that neck snapping, and the word _evil _sprang up like weeds.

It was so quiet. Not a word came from anybody. We were all just sitting or standing around in silence. It was unsettling.

_Snip. Snip. _Silence.

"Okay, I'm done," Eden's voice rang out. I turned to face her as she rifled through her bag. She held the mirror up to me. I gasped.

The long, dark curls that used to hang around my shoulders were gone. In place, Eden had cut my hair to my chin, with layers that danced when I moved in the slightest way. It reminded me of the woman I saw who came into the house we took things from, but less extreme.

"You told me you wanted it to be different than before, and this was the only thing I could think of," she said.

"No, it's perfect, thank you," I replied, grinning. Fred scooted over next to Eden and looked at me.

"Looks good on you. Fierce," he said, and turned to Eden, "You did a good job, lovely."

"The only person's hair I can't do is my own," she said proudly, pointing at her bun. Fred kissed her jaw, and she laughed.

"Now tell us about this trip you and Riley went on," she whispered to me. Around the room, everyone turned their attention to me. I could feel their eyes on me, waiting to see what I had to say.

"There's not much to say about the actual mission. We were just supposed to collect samples from a house, then leave."

"Supposed to?" Fred asked skeptically. I nodded eagerly.

"A woman came into the house. Another vampire, with yellow eyes. Riley got out, but I wasn't quick enough…"

"What happened?" someone asked.

"That's the thing: she didn't see me. Couldn't, I mean."

"What," Eden asked, "did you hide?"

"No, I just kind of… stood there. This weird feeling came over me, and she didn't acknowledge me at all," I said. Everyone looked at me, then each other.

"Sounds like someone has a power," Fred said in a singsong voice. I blinked.

"What?"

"You know, vampires carry their strongest traits from their mortal lives, and some get powers. Cayden has one," Fred declared happily, nodding at him. Cayden sighed.

"For the last time, I don't have any powers!"

"Then why do humans back away when they see you on the street?"

"That's just me," Cayden said, "I'm just a tall guy!"

"So you're a badass without trying?" Fred asked. Eden rolled her eyes, and led me over to the edge of the room, leaving the men to their bickering.

"That conversation was going nowhere. I swear, if we weren't a couple, they would be," she said, gesturing at Fred. I giggled.

"If it's not too much trouble, I'd love to see that power," Eden said. The others grew quiet, and watched me intently. I concentrated until that chaotic feeling emerged in me again.

I watched as several people's attention turned elsewhere. Like I wasn't in the room.

"I can still see you," Cayden said.

"See who?" Fred asked.

"Bree," he replied, "I can still see Bree." He pointed right at me.

"What?" Fred asked. Cayden sighed again. I decided to stop.

"So it only works on a small scale," I wondered aloud. The ones it worked on noticed me, startled, like I had just appeared there.

"You might want to be careful with a power like that," Cayden told me.

"Why?"

"Because of Riley. He has a power, too."

"What power does he have?" I asked. He chuckled.

"Persuasion."

"Alright, everyone, sun's going down, time to feed." Riley's voice echoed, making it sterner than it might have been. Everyone followed him outside, and then began walking through the forest.

I saw Riley walking towards me, and I looked for a way to avoid him. There was none. I didn't trust him after something the others had told me in the hideout:

"_If you seemed ordinary before, chances are the now Riley will see your power as a useful tool. He might use you as a pawn, Bree." Eden had said._

"_Or worse," Cayden added, "he might see you're power as a threat that you could use against him, and he could possibly be planning to get rid of you."_

My stomach had dropped when I heard that one and I couldn't get it out of my head. With that sentence, the sound of the snapping neck popped back into my mind. I shuddered. Thanks, Cayden.

"Hello, Bree," Riley said, in a voice like velvet. _Persuasion, _I thought, _persuasion. _I glanced at him and gave him a curt nod.

"Hello." I kept walking. He grabbed my hand and stopped me. I quit walking, but I pulled my hand away quickly. He raised his eyebrows.

"Something wrong?" he asked. I stared at him.

"No," I lied finally. I started to step away. Suddenly, he was in front of me.

"I said," he leaned his face toward mine, "is there something wrong?"

"And _I _said," looking straight into those eyes, "no."

We stood like that, silent, maintaining eye contact. Out of nowhere, there was Cayden's voice next to me:

"Come on, Bree." He put an arm around my shoulder and led me away. I looked back at Riley, who was narrowing his eyes.

The usual clouds covered the city, and the last rays of light slipped away behind the horizon. All of us separated into groups, pairs, and individuals. Eden and Fred went away giggling to themselves. I followed Cayden.

"What happened to Amanda?" I asked. He gave me a pained look.

"She was in the fight this afternoon," he responded. His eyes were distant.

"Cayden," I asked carefully, "did you like her?" He nodded once. I apologized, but he shook it off.

"Come on, we need food," he said.

He led me along twisted alleys and sidewalks, where people were still walking, hurrying to get home. Eventually, we came to an almost empty street. Almost.

Two men were headed to a car. We ducked in an alleyway and waited for their footsteps. As soon as they entered our line of sight, Cayden nodded.

It was almost too easy. We grabbed them, and pulled them into our alley. I mimicked Cayden by covering my victim's mouth (in case he screamed), and bit his neck.

I was no longer a creature with thoughts, or control. The blood, its taste, its scent, its idea, was taking hold of my mind. I vaguely remember that the stuff used to taste like rust; unpleasant. Now, it tasted like the sweetest wine in the world, and I couldn't get enough of it. I was an animal.

At first, he struggled, and it was nothing I couldn't handle. Eventually, the guy stopped moving altogether. I kept drinking. I only stopped when there was nothing else there.

Cayden and I looked at each other. He smiled. I licked my lips, and stared down at my victim.

"Well, that's a mess," I said. Cayden started laughing.

"It really is." He kept laughing, then I started laughing, and pretty soon we were roaring like idiots in a dark alley next to two people we just killed.

"We need to stop," I gasped, "this isn't okay, we just killed people."

"I know," he snickered, "but I can't stop. I blame you, look what you did."

We finally stopped. But we started again when I opened my mouth and said the worst thing ever:

"Mine's got a nice jacket." I pointed. Then it got bad. It was ridiculous; I swear I've never laughed so hard.

"If you like it so much," a voice purred next to me, "maybe you should take it."

It was Riley. We stopped laughing immediately. He smirked, and nodded behind him.

"Come on, back to the hideout." We started walking. But not before I grabbed that jacket.

Back in the woods, everyone was already inside, but Riley stopped me again. We were now alone.

"I need to talk to you. It's about your power." I groaned inwardly. I was high on blood and I really didn't want to deal with this.

"What about it?" I asked impatiently. His expression softened.

"Why do you have to do that? If this is about this afternoon-"

"You killed a guy," I interrupted. He smiled mischievously.

"So did you, and you were having a ball." I swallowed.

"It's-"

"Not the same thing? Oh, it's _exactly _the same thing. You killed someone, and don't you see? There's no shame." He shrugged. I didn't respond; he got me there.

"Now, look. It's obvious you're power can be a useful one. I'm sure the others have," he reached up and touched my face, "warned you about mine."

I couldn't speak. All I could feel was his hand on my cheek. I had to avoid staring at his face again.

"Yes," I answered. His hand dropped.

"That's alright. I expected them to. But I'm not using it on _you,_ no. Why would I want to?" I shrugged and shook my head lightly.

"I want to you to train alone with me during the day sometimes. Let me explain," he said when I tried to protest.

"You're power is useful, but I'm guessing not very strong. You can't really do much with it, is that correct?" I nodded.

"I want to help you. We're going to fight very well trained people, and I want us to have some kind of advantage. Your power could be that advantage. But in order for that to happen, you need practice. Now, I'm either asking or ordering, that's your choice. Will you please practice that power with me?" He waited. Without knowing what exactly I was getting myself into, I answered:

"Alright," I agreed. I turned around to go inside.

"Oh, and Bree?" he asked. I faced him. He gave me a smile, a real one this time, and I don't lie to admit it, but it looked good on him.

"What?" I said, searching his face.

"Nice haircut."


	10. Training Session Part 1

_A/N: Let me just say thank you all for following this story even though the postings are infrequent. Today I'm doing a double posting because I haven't posted in forever._

_ALSO: A RILEY AND BREE FAN PAGE ON FACEBOOK! They don't have a lot of likes yet, and I would love to see their page gain some popularity. _/pages/Riley-and-Bree-Fans/163635440437052

"Again."

"I can't."

"_Again."_

"_I can't."_

I'd been outside since the sun rose an hour ago, doing individual training with Riley. Only my power decided not to work today, no matter how hard I tried. We were both a little frustrated by this point, and it was getting worse with every passing moment.

"Again, just try it again."

"How many times do I have to tell you? I. Can't. I don't know why, but I can't. It's just not working today, alright?" I sighed, and put my hand in front of my eyes to block out the sun, which was making a rare appearance this morning.

"Maybe it's the glitter," I said, looking at my hand, "maybe the sparkles are screwing with my rhythm." Riley growled, and moved close to my face again. He seems to be doing that a lot recently.

"_Maybe _it's the fact that you're distracted and your train of thought has refused to leave its station all day. Now I know you can make this work. You made it work in Bella's room, and I know that you've made it work down there for all your little friends. Just, for my sanity's sake, try _something." _

_Maybe it's the fact that you're breathing into my face every few seconds, _I wanted to say. But I admit that wasn't really a problem. He definitely wasn't ugly. He was just pissing me off. So I just shoved him away and stepped back a few yards before things got out of hand. And I started again.

I was trying everything. Thinking. Not thinking. Imagining myself in the previous situations. Breathing funny. Not breathing at all. But they were all vain attempts. It just wasn't happening.

After another half hour I was about to start screaming. What the heck was I doing wrong? It wasn't helping that he was standing there, staring.

"Do you have any ideas? I've tried everything, and I just," I held out my arms in defeat, "I just don't know. I fail, okay?"

He gave me a look.

"What?" I asked.

"The great Bree Tanner, accepting her failure?" he said sarcastically. I sighed, but nodded.

"Alright. You could be just trying too hard. Could you try just, how do I put this, letting it emerge by itself?" he asked. I rolled my eyes.

"What do you think the first hour was?" I replied.

"Well then, maybe you could imagine yourself-"

"Last half hour," I interrupted. He put his hands behind his head, searching for a new plan. Finally, he got this expression on his face, and I was ready for him to say something. Instead, he crossed his arms, adjusted his feet, and stared at me.

"So, have you got an idea, then?" I asked. No answer. I narrowed my eyes, and asked him again. Still no reply. But he kept his eyes on me.

I snapped my fingers in his face. I threw a pebble at him. I paced. I asked more questions. I paced some more. At last, I gave up.

"Fine, I can play, too." I stood right across from him and stared right back. I stayed quiet. And we simply did that; standing, and staring at each other. I wasn't sure about how much time was passing. I didn't care. In a way, I wasn't really paying attention to anything at all.

And then suddenly, it happened. It felt like my energy was messily bunching up inside me, zooming around like busy cars on a freeway. Riley stopped staring at me now; he was looking at the trees, the ground, the sky, and even the spaces around me. He relaxed, and put his arms at his side.

I moved once, and it was over. I could feel all that trapped energy leaking out into the air. All at once, his attention came to me.

"See," he told me, "it worked."

"You did that on purpose," I said, panting a little. All that energy all let out at once, it really took the breath out of me. He glided towards me.

"I think that's enough for today. We'll work again tomorrow," he said, squeezing my shoulder. And then, he performed the unexpected.

He kissed me on the cheek, smiled, and disappeared.


	11. Little Talks

_A/N: Okay, as promised, here is the next chapter as my apology to my less-than-perfect posting skills. _

_ALSO: A RILEY AND BREE FAN PAGE ON FACEBOOK: They don't have a lot of likes yet, and I would love to see their page gain some popularity. _/pages/Riley-and-Bree-Fans/163635440437052

"Maybe he's bipolar," Fred said, throwing a tennis ball at the wall with vampire speed. I caught it, and threw it back.

"That's just not like him," Eden chimed in, "Riley's usually not very nice at all. Not in an honest way, I mean."

"There's my problem," I said, running my fingers through my hair, "I just don't know what to think of him."

As soon as I came down from the training session that morning, I'd told the group all about it, hoping they could give me some answers as to what exactly was going on in Riley's head. So far, they had about as much of a clue as I did.

"Bree, I'm telling you, you have to watch yourself around that guy. I mean sure, it's pretty unusual for him to be a bit friendly," Cayden said, "but it's a little less common for him to ask one of us to do an individual training session for a power."

"But my power's not really strong. Every time I use it, it's a bit surprising. It's uncontrolled," I responded. Cayden shook his head.

"Not for long. I say the more you practice, the easier and stronger it gets. Soon you might be able to move while you use it, and hell, maybe you could camouflage a whole group of people," he said, pointing at everyone.

His words made me speechless. To hide _everyone_? It sounded impossible when he said it that way. Excitement bubbled in me.

"That would be useful, wouldn't it? Against whoever it is we're fighting? I mean, we could _win_ that way. We would definitely win, and then we would be able to do whatever we wanted."

Suddenly everyone looked uncomfortable. Eyes went to the floor, avoiding mine. Eden suddenly looked at Cayden, horrified.

"You were right," she whispered. My stomach dropped.

"Right about what?" I asked. Others were looking at Cayden, too. What was he getting at? He sighed, and spoke.

"I had this idea, a couple weeks ago. I've been here for three months; Eden's been here for five. It wasn't even an idea, really, it was just like a fleeting thought…"

"What?" I asked. He took a deep breath.

"Cannon fodder," he said. Suddenly, there was a voice in the entrance of the hideout.

"What's that about cannon fodder, Cayden?"

It was Riley.

All of us turned to look at him. Riley stood relaxed, with his hands in his pockets, a smile playing on his lips. He tilted his head to the side.

"Oh, I don't mean to interrupt," he said pleasantly, "by all means, continue."

Cayden pressed his mouth in a hard line and looked straight at him. Seconds went by that felt like years. Riley broke eye contact first, looking at the rest of us with a smile.

"I came down here to make an announcement," he walked forward slowly, "but it seems to me that Cayden's making one of his own."

Riley kicked Cayden down onto his knees in front of him. He put one hand on Cayden's jaw, the other on the back of his head. I couldn't look away.

"I gave you this immortality, Cayden, and I can easily take it away." The words were barely more than a whisper, next to his ear, but they were loud enough. Riley looked around at us, his lips parted slightly. His eyes stopped at mine, and a smile formed.

"Should I do it?" he asked tauntingly. I couldn't tell if he was speaking to everyone, or just me. I glanced at Cayden, then back at Riley. Ever so subtly, I shook my head. Like a silent pleading. _No._

He lifted his hands from Cayden's head, and kicked him to the ground. Cayden scrambled back up as orderly as he could, and backed away as far as possible. I swear you could hear the whole room give out a sigh in relief.

"I'll make this as clear as possible," Riley said, "you are all an _army, _and I am your _commanding officer._ Like it or not, you all play by my rules. If you were all _cannon fodder, _you would all be dead by now. Understand?"

Silence.

"Excellent. Alright, then. My announcement."

Anticipation hung around the room like fog. Riley locked eyes with me again. My breathing stopped short.

"We fight in two weeks."


End file.
